Who Will Make The Difference Saturday Night?

[Shawn]

I gotta go with Derek Moye. Wait never mind. Honestly, I think Bryant has a big day against that secondary. With Bell out, Brown will get much attention and Ben will have to seek out Miller, Wheaton, and Bryant more. Of those three, Bryant is a match up nightmare for that secondary.

[papillon]

I gotta go with Derek Moye. Wait never mind. Honestly, I think Bryant has a big day against that secondary. With Bell out, Brown will get much attention and Ben will have to seek out Miller, Wheaton, and Bryant more. Of those three, Bryant is a match up nightmare for that secondary.

Having to seek out Miller, Wheaton and Bryant isn't a bad thing as we have seen. Plus you know AB is going to get his touches one way or another, they won't be able to keep him completely off the ball. AB has a great ability to allow the game to come to him, Ben doesn't have to go looking for him, they both know at some point they'll be able to take their shot, its a great working relationship they have right now.

Pappy

[phillyesq]

I'm going to go old school with some new blood thrown in. Harrison owns the rookie LT and owns the Ravens again. He has 2 sacks and a forced fumble. Blake picks a deep pass.

[Jooser]

The CB's will have to keep the Hail Flacco deep ball in check to Smith and Smith. I think Shaz will make a big impact play on a 3rd down sometime tonight. Everyone has to keep their heads and don't let Thuggs and company draw them into the trash heap.

[flippy]

I'm thinking James might just have a big day like typical vs the Ravens. The one guy offensively that worries me from the Rats is Steve Smith. I think he's the older version of Antonio Brown and I think our DBs could have a tough day with him.

[papillon]

As it turns out no one made the difference tonight. The offense couldn't get any traction and the defense fell apart in thew 2nd half. The ball bounced the Ravens way a couple times (blocked punt for safety rather than TD and Suggs INT that was inches from the ground) and there you have it a 30-17 loss in the playoffs.

Pappy

[phillyesq]

As it turns out no one made the difference tonight. The offense couldn't get any traction and the defense fell apart in thew 2nd half. The ball bounced the Ravens way a couple times (blocked punt for safety rather than TD and Suggs INT that was inches from the ground) and there you have it a 30-17 loss in the playoffs.

Pappy

I think the answer is that the absence of Bell made the difference.

[hawaiiansteel]

I think the answer is that the absence of Bell made the difference.

yes, a huge one...

[Ghost]

The O was certainly off but Bell had nothing to do with the D's inability to stop 3rd and long over and over again. Just painful.

[papillon]

I think the answer is that the absence of Bell made the difference.

Eh, he may have turned a couple plays into first downs, but the other guys didn't do a bad job, they were there for Ben, I was most disappointed with Gilbert and then Haley to a degree not to get him help with Dumervil. In the first half Ben didn't have any rhythm or the WRs couldn't shake their guy. The offense just appeared to sluggish, I was hoping for a little up tempo quick passing game to try and get a rhythm and use the short throws as running plays, but it never materialized.

It was better run than I expected this year, young guys got experience and some veterans should realize its over for them, next year should see an entirely revamped defense and a high octane offense. Its exciting for next year already.

Pappy

[BradshawsHairdresser]

The O was certainly off but Bell had nothing to do with the D's inability to stop 3rd and long over and over again. Just painful.

Yeah, painful is the best word I can think of to describe it.

[phillyesq]

Eh, he may have turned a couple plays into first downs, but the other guys didn't do a bad job, they were there for Ben, I was most disappointed with Gilbert and then Haley to a degree not to get him help with Dumervil. In the first half Ben didn't have any rhythm or the WRs couldn't shake their guy. The offense just appeared to sluggish, I was hoping for a little up tempo quick passing game to try and get a rhythm and use the short throws as running plays, but it never materialized.

It was better run than I expected this year, young guys got experience and some veterans should realize its over for them, next year should see an entirely revamped defense and a high octane offense. Its exciting for next year already.

Pappy

The replacements were fine running, but what about the ball that bounced off of Tate's hands for an INT? Also, I suspect that the replacements were running against different fronts than Bell would have seen, which changes what was available for the passing game.

And as inept as the Steelers have always been in the red zone, having Bell certainly wouldn't have hurt.

[fordfixer]

I'm gonna have to go with Suggs making the difference

[papillon]

The replacements were fine running, but what about the ball that bounced off of Tate's hands for an INT? Also, I suspect that the replacements were running against different fronts than Bell would have seen, which changes what was available for the passing game.

And as inept as the Steelers have always been in the red zone, having Bell certainly wouldn't have hurt.

Impossible to say whether Bell catches it or not, probably would have, not sure it would have made a difference at that point. There were other times I kept saying, "d@mn, Bell would have turned that into a 1st", but overall I don't think Bell changes the outcome. The offensive line picked a bad game to be mediocre, particularly the tackles.

Pappy

[phillyesq]

Impossible to say whether Bell catches it or not, probably would have, not sure it would have made a difference at that point. There were other times I kept saying, "d@mn, Bell would have turned that into a 1st", but overall I don't think Bell changes the outcome. The offensive line picked a bad game to be mediocre, particularly the tackles.

Pappy

Part of that mediocrity is Haley running empty sets. And not having the threat of a running game doesn't help the offensive line, either.